The Allman Brothers Band

The Allman Brothers Band is unquestionably one of the best live acts that ever walked across the green grass of the earth. Seeing that I was born nearly twenty years too late to even have the chance to witness the band in their prime, I, like many others, have to rely on live recordings to experience the Allman Brothers Band like it was meant to be experienced. Everyone knows that live albums blow compared to the real thing, but if the same is true for American University 12/13/70 and all its live brothers and sisters, then the stage talent of the Allman Brothers Band is beyond my comprehension. This particular recording was taken from an uncut Washington, DC performance and features the original band line-up. At this point they'd been together one year, and it would be just months before it was tragically brought to an end by Duane Allman's death in December 1971. Recorded around the same time as the band's classic At Fillmore East album, with many of the same songs making the tracklist, American University 12/13/70 may not be an essential album, but it's certainly an awe-inspiring one.